Kansas City officers shot during fentanyl arrests

Three police officers in Kansas City, Kansas were wounded in a gunbattle Wednesday during an undercover fentanyl investigation. The officers were wearing bulletproof vests and are expected to recover. Three suspects also sustained non-life-threatening injuries in the shooting. The suspects fired at the officers from a car as they tried to make an arrest. Cocaine dealers are now turning to dealing fentanyl, Kansas City Police Chief Karl Oakman said.

Is there an international response to the fentanyl crisis? Mexican President Manuel Lopez Obrador said Tuesday he had written to Chinese President Xi Jinping asking for help controlling shipments of fentanyl. Mexico is the source of the “vast majority of methamphetamine, heroin, and illicit fentanyl seized in the United States,” according to a U.S. Department of State report. China is “a major source of precursor chemicals for narcotics” including fentanyl—the chemicals are typically purchased online and shipped to overseas customers, according to the report.

Dig deeper: Read Addie Offereins and Myrna Brown’s report in The World and Everything in It podcast on lawmakers trying to make it easier to test drugs for fentanyl.